The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-03-02
THE LAND OF PROSTITUTES
wINTRY SCENES IN THE HOME Oh
THE LSQUIMAUX.

Travelling in the Snow With the
Temperature Sixty Degrees BE
tow zero-Curing Prostitutes
The vapor of the breath will at once
condense on the beard in the shape of ice
that will keep accumulating indefinitely
If not removed, says Lieutenant Schwat-
ka, writing inI the Youths Compan-
doH of his arctic experiences. OF course
we tried to keep our boards as short as
possible, but, living as Esquimaux, shaw
ing was completely out of the question
unless we lathered ourselves with snow
ball and shaved with an icicle. So all
our efforts were confined to what we
could do with pair of scissors, and even
then the ice would manage to get at this
slim hold and build itself up into ball
of varying proportions.
Our method of removing it was pecu-
liar. When we stopped to rest we
would bury our mouths in the palms of
our open hands and breathe with deep
inspirations for minute or two. This
would always make the icy mass drop
off, especially if the beard was kept
short.
If the reindeer hood comes too close up
around the chin it also will accumulate
ice in the same way, and in keeping it
far enough away to avoid this the full
chin is generally exposed. The chin, the
nose, the eyes, and part of the cheeks are
the only portions of the face exposed, for
the hood comes down closely to the eye
brows. These exposed parts of the face
are subject to frequent nips of frost,
which during a very disagreeable day of
wind and low temperature may exceed
half dozen an hour.
The cure is to take the warm hand out
of the reindeer mitten and apply it di-
rectly to the place until the little white
spot which attracted the attention of
some companion walking by your side
disappears, for 30 complete local anes-
thetic is frost that you would never have
known it yourself. This is especially
true of the protuberant parts of the chin
and cheeks, but sometimes upon the nose,
just at the instant of freezing, is felt a
hornet-hke sting that makes person
feel like jumping twenty feet into the
air.
have often been asked if such bitter
cold air would not freeze the tongue in
the mouth while breathing, and | have
noticed this sensation apparently once or
twice when the thermometer stood at
about seventy degrees minus, but could
at once get rid OF the feeling by breath
ing through the nostrils and closing the
mouth for short time. The question
naturally arises: Why not breathe
through the nostrils all the while; but
doing so continuously always results in
such persistent catarrh that it does not
take one long to return to the usual
method of breathing through the mouth,
as by far less disagreeable.
Every one has heard about the drowsi-
ness that accompanies extreme cold, and
supposed by many to be caused by
breathing intensely cold air. None Of
my party experienced it in the least in all
our winters trip of almost constant
travel in not only the creates cold, but
the longest continued cold endured by
white men, showing that, living as the
Esquimaux do, no such discomfort or
danger need be feared.
have said that this intensely cold
weather was usually accompanied by
calms which made it quite bearable. /
remember one quite noteworthy excep-
tion. One morning the thermometer at
o'clock showed US that it was sixty
eight degrees below zero, but as it was
calm and quiet we loaded our sledges
for a days Journey to the igloo fan Es-
quimau, where we could buy reindeer
meat for our dogs.
We were just ready to start when a
wind sprang up that felt like facing
razor-blades. Had it come ten minutes
sooner we should not have thought of
going, but being loaded we started The
dogs trotted, and we ran along the whole
way except for one short rest, until we
reached the welcome snow home. Both
the white men and the Esquimaux were
frozen in unexpected places.
At the end of the journey the ther-
mometer showed fifty five degrees minus
that is, it was warmer by thirteen de-
grees. told this to the Esquimaux with
me, but l think from the incredulous
glances they took at each other that they
voted the thermometer to be the most
accomplished Ananias they ever met,
and wondered how we could allow our
selves to be duped by it.